World

The Bus Ride That Sparked a Journey Out of Poverty and Into Yale

Perhaps the American Dream is more than just an ideal after all. Two years ago, Boston Globe reporter Billy Baker wrote the touching story of two young brothers working hard to lift themselves out of an impoverished background and, now, their story has developed: with hard work, academic drive and a little luck, it appears dreams do come true.

As reported by Baker in the original story, the two high school students, George and Johnny Huynh, grew up in the struggling neighborhood of Dorchester, which is just outside of Boston and plagued by violence. The brothers' parents were divorced, and their father committed suicide in 2008. Their mother's mental disabilities made her unable to hold a job outside the home to support the children. A Vietnamese immigrant, she spoke little English and, as Baker reported, the boys speak little Vietnamese.

Despite their lack of support and financial pressure, both boys are hard-working students who pursued better educational opportunities outside of their neighborhood at the prestigious Boston Latin School. As the nation’s oldest school, it offer students a "famously rigorous curriculum," as described by Baker. Since the seventh grade, the brothers commuted every day on Bus 19 to Boston Latin, and they were both in the top of their class.

The Boston Globe video below tells the story of their life in greater detail.

In it, the boys are described as "high achievers" and appear devoted to working hard to reach their dreams. What's more, despite George's childhood struggles alongside his older brother Johnny, he has just announced his acceptance to Yale University. According to Baker, George initially shared the news of getting into the preeminent U.S. university on his Facebook page Tuesday by thanking everyone who helped him get to his goal. Baker tweeted the image of George below, celebrating the good news:

Baker, who has continued to stay in touch with and mentor the boys long after the original story was published, shared this heartwarming development to their story via Twitter on Monday in an emotional narrative that took the social network by storm, starting with the simple line, "I'm going to tell you a story."

To conclude, Baker tweeted, "Sorry for flooding you with this experiment. But it's a story about what's right when we spend too much time writing about what's wrong." That story is reproduced in its entirety below.

[&lt;a href="//storify.com/mathewi/billy-baker-of-the-boston-globe-and-an-inspiring-s" target="_blank"&gt;View the story "Billy Baker of the Boston Globe and an inspiring story of hope" on Storify&lt;/a&gt;]

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